Longnose sucker (Catostomus catostomus) Pennsylvania Endangered State Rank: S1 (critically imperiled) Global Rank: G5 (secure) What it looks like: The longnose sucker has a cylindrical body with a distinctive horizontal mouth and a long, rounded snout. Its color varies from olive to gray above and white or cream below; breeding males are darker, and females may be green to gold above. Both sexes have red lateral stripes. Where it lives: Longnose suckers prefer cold, clear waters, living on the bottom of streams and lakes, and down to depths of 180 meters in the Great Lakes. They feed on aquatic insects, mainly Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, 1998 benthic species; a study of longnose suckers taken from the Missouri River in North Dakota found that the largest portion of their stomach contents was made up of midge larvae. Why it is rare: The longnose is the most widespread sucker species in North America, ranging from coast to coast and north into Canada. Pennsylvania is at the southern edge of the species’ range, and the populations documented here, mainly in the Youghiogheny River system, may represent relicts from when glacial action altered the river northward course to connect it with the Ohio River drainage. This population has suffered from the effects of severe acidification Conservation considerations: caused by mine drainage. The longnose sucker’s requirement for cold, North American State/Province Conservation Status c lear water makes it particularly sensitive to Map by NatureServe (August 2007) human alteration of streamflow and turbidity. It may have mixed reactions to dam construction; in a study of Missouri River fish State/Province species, the turbid conditions upstream of a Status Ranks d am made longnose suckers less abundant, but SX – presumed extirpated the clear conditions downstream allowed them SH – possibly extirpated S1 – critically imperiled t o become one of the dominant species. S2 – imperiled Because they feed on aquatic insects, suckers S3 – vulnerable S4 – apparently secure a re potentially very sensitive to water S5 – secure Not ranked/under review p ollution, whether from point sources like p aper mills and municipal sewage outfalls or n on-point sources like fertilizer runoff from r esidential lawns or agricultural fields. References: Cooper, Edwin Lavern. 1983. Fishes of Pennsylvania and the Northeastern United States. University Park, PA: The Pennsylvania State University Press. 243p. Hatch JT and K Schmidt. “Fishes of Minnesota – longnose sucker (Catostomus catostomus)” [web page]. University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN. Available on line at http://www.gen.umn.edu/research/fish/fishes/ longnose_sucker.html. Accessed 22 April 2005. Hendricks ML, JR Stauffer, Jr., and CH Hocutt. 1983. “The zoogeography of the fishes of the Youghiogheny River system, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and West Virginia.” American Midland Naturalist, 110(1): 145-64. NatureServe. 2007. NatureServe Explorer: An online encyclopedia of life [web application]. Version 6.2. NatureServe, Arlington, Virginia. Available http://www.natureserve.org/explorer. Accessed 13 August 2007. Welker TL and DL Scarnecchia. 2003. “Differences in species composition and feeding ecology of catostomid fishes in two distinct segments of the Missouri River, North Dakota, U.S.A.” Environmental Biology of Fishes, 68: 129-41. Saving the places .